Eye of Gold
by Noiraang
Summary: All seemed well with life. The guild was still small and cheerful, all members basking in the peace. But one day, Sans notices a colossal shift in Frisk. Now, they never show their right eye, they seem more jumpy than usual, and even stranger: they seem to be hiding something disastrous. AU where there are guilds.
1. Time

Drip drop.

Frisk bowed low, low enough that their head reached the floor. They begged on their hands and knees. Tears streamed down their face. Such pain, such horrible agonizing pain tore into their mind, their heart, their soul.

Drip drop.

Their eyes met the golden irises of the entity. And a deal was made.

A price was paid.

Drip drop.

Can one put a price on a second chance?


	2. Suspicions

Sans was worried. He was more than worried, he was actually sweating. Actually, he was sweating because sitting next to a volcano probably wasn't the best idea for a relaxing vacation. He sighed. The reason he had traveled all the way to the Hot Lands, far west of the Underground, was to get some quiet so that he could worry in silence.

Frisk was acting weird lately. They still acted the same. Frisk would still laugh with him, cook with Undyne, solve puzzles with Papyrus, but many things were off. The most obvious being the eyepatch. The day before, Frisk told the guild that they had gotten into a little dueling accident when heading to the guild house. They wore a hospital eyepatch, covering their left eye. Yet, nowhere else on their body seemed to have even a scratch. Even more worrying than that was the little jumps and flinches that Frisk thought he didn't catch. Sans remembered when he turned to pat Frisk on the back, only to stop midway due to the look of sheer terror on the kid's face.

Sans ran a hand down his face. He really was working himself to the bone trying to figure this mystery out. Maybe Frisk was telling the truth about the duels, maybe they were lying, it wasn't really his problem.

It was time to head jack to the house, where his family would be waiting for him. Sans grinned. Family. That was one thing he never would have dreamed of having. Yet due to sheer luck and some accidents, their guild was formed, trust was built, friendships bloomed.

As he walked back, he pushed all the worrying doubts about Frisk to the back of his mind as he slowly trudged home. Might as well get some exercise huh?

He ended up teleporting back after five seconds of trudging.


	3. Lies

"Hey! We haven't finished our TOTALLY AWESOME training yet!"

Sans looked up as Undyne hurtled after Frisk, knocking the door aside and storming into the house in pursuit of the tiny human.

"Woah there buddy, having some special bonding time with our fishy friend I see." Sans winked at the panicked child, hurriedly using his magic to help the human into the cabinet. He barely had time to release his magic when Undyne exploded into the kitchen where he was drinking his ketchup, and roared in frustration.

"Where's the punk?! They haven't even finished their laps! GET OUT HERE YOU SLACKER!" Undyne punched the table, managing to break it straight in half. Sans had managed to save his ketchup bottle before eyeing the table nervously. Toriel would be not be happy about the table, it was the fifth that had been smashed that week.

Undyne gave one last furious glare at the furniture before leaving, making an exit just as violent as her entrance. Sans cracked a grin. "Hey kid, you can come out now, we still got a skeleton to talk about." His teeth may not have moved, but his eye sockets were empty, showing no emotion.

He watched as Frisk slowly lowered themselves from the cabinet to stand nervously next to him. They were acting very nervous, refusing to look up at him. Sans grunted, and looked around, searching for any monsters who could be eavesdropping. He nodded, satisfied with his search, and decided to lessen the tension a bit.

"Hey, don't look so chilled to the bone, why don't we go to Grillby's to talk, just like old times, amiright?" Frisk hesitantly looked up, searching his expression with their one eye. Sans' grin tightened. The eyepatch was really bothering him. Something about the kid hiding anything from him was enough to make him just a little wary.

"Let's just walk there this time, it really is a lovely day isn't it? Birds are chirping, flowers are blooming… hey, what's the matter?" Sans stopped at the doorway, and his eye sockets darkened at the sight of that expression, the one that had been making him wary since Frisk showed up with an eyepatch. Frisk was staring at him in slight horror and another emotion that he couldn't quite put his skeleton finger on. Guilt perhaps? Though, Sans couldn't think of any previous incident that may cause Frisk to feel any guilt. Their guild was known to be a very peaceful one, only participating in guild wars when challenged. There were no situations that could cause trauma to the tiny human child.

Frisk seemed to snap out of it, quickly pasting a smile on and walking past Sans. Sans didn't speak for the rest of the walk, too caught up in his thoughts.

He was still really worried. He genuinely cared about Frisk's well being, and although there were times that their trust was tested, Frisk had proved to be a trustworthy and loyal to a fault guildmate. He owed more to Frisk than he could even imagine. Frisk was why Sans and his precious brother had a roof above their heads and a loving guild to support them. From that day, when Frisk had reached a hand out to them, trusted them and made them an official part of the guild, Sans had tried to protect them along with his brother. He had a family now. A family who supported and cared for him as much as he did for them. But something was wrong now. The day Frisk had shown up with that eyepatch, he immediately knew something was off. They didn't have as much energy, seemed resigned and defeated. At first, Sans suspected bullies. Snowdin was generally a very friendly town, but it was not unheard of for teenagers to pick on weaker targets, he had seen it with his own eyes, how cruel the younger monsters could be towards each other. But when he acted on his suspicions, tailed the human for the entire week, he found nothing. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Frisk would shop, chat with locals and rival guild members, even do some friendly chores, but no bullies showed their faces. Sans didn't know what to do. If it wasn't bullies, what could be bothering the human so much? He hoped he would find out soon, as he gazed at the foggy windows of Grillby's.

He led Frisk in, exchanging greetings and friendly banter with the regular customers in the warm bar. He eventually made it to the two stools that Frisk and he would usually sit in. He even grinned when the human handed him a woopee cushion with a cheeky smile and slight giggle.

"Hey Grill, we'll have two orders of fries." Sans grunted out, waving at his old friend. Then the smile dropped from his face.

"Kid, you've been hiding things from me lately." He eyed Frisk from his seat, eye sockets darkening at their nervous reaction.

Frisk played with their hands, refusing to look Sans in the eye. "Sans, I… I just don't think this concerns you or the others. It's really just my problem." They muttered, glancing guiltily at their best friend.

Sans sighed, this was really fraying his nerves, trust issues weren't good, especially with the looming date of another tournament. "Your problems are the guild's problems, there's no way that any of your problems aren't going to affect the guild at some point. Plus, the others are starting to worry too, your eye has been like that for a month now. Why won't you just tell us what's wrong?" He watched as Frisks mouth bent into a frown, eye glaring at the wood in front of them. They seemed remorseful about their next words.

"I'm sorry Sans but, you really shouldn't know, it's nothing big really. I've just been...a little more tired lately. My eyes healing, I...promise. And they don't have to worry! Just a little time and my eye will be back to normal. I think."

Sans gripped the bar in frustration. Couldn't Frisk see that hiding things were only hurting the guild more? Toriel was worried everyday the kid stepped foot outside, Undyne was working herself to the ground, thinking that she could find the 'bullies' who were messing with Frisk, and he was already sick with suspicion and worry.

"That's...that's fine then. Just remember,you can tell me anything. I can't bear to see you hurting like this." Sans' eye sockets widened as he caught Frisk's response, though he doubted the human noticed that Sans heard the whispered reply.

"You need to stop lying to yourself Sans."


	4. Beginning

Today was the day. The day that the Tournament of Wings would begin. This competition took place once a year, it was a major event for the people of the Underground. Human tourists would pass through, taking pictures of the battles that would take place. Frisk was the only native human who would be participating. The event took four guilds in the Underground and made a competition that allowed them to compete for a guild title. This years title sounded more ominous than the others, _Angels of Death._ Most monsters and humans were a little… surprised at the dark title, but the Core was never wrong. The Core would send a title, the Queen and King would announce it, that's how it was. Monsters were busy closing their shops and getting ready to leave for the battle stadium in the Capital.

Sans was roaming the crowded streets of the capital, keeping an eye out for his fellow guild members. He was confident in their power. They had been practicing for this tournament since they had been chosen as one of the guilds that would be competing. Undyne could now fully form her spears and throw them in the blink of an eye. Papyrus could manipulate his bones to be intangible and move quickly across a great distance. Alphys was able to create all types of poisons and cures, being their doctor. Frisk had also been practicing, but their fire magic was recently a bit weaker, as if the emotions that fueled their flames had been dampened.

Deep in thought, Sans didn't notice when he ran into a small form. He looked down, breaking into a grin.

"Geez kid, sorry 'bout that, wasn't paying attention there." He smiled sheepishly. Frisk shook their head and decided to tag along, walking beside him. The silence was peaceful.

Sans turned as something caught his eye, there was a shine of gold across the street, but only gold eyes met his gaze. The monster the eyes belonged to seemed to be a goat, who smiled at him and waved. Waving back, Sans looked back to check on Frisk. His eye sockets widened as he looked at the human. Frisk was staring at the stranger in horror and slight fear. Sans quickly whipped around again to see if he had missed something, but no one was there, the monster seemed to have simply vanished into thin air.

"Come on Sans! We're gunna be late for the tournament!" Sans slowly shook himself out of his shock. He stopped Frisk.

"Let's just take one of my shortcuts." He winked. Sans led Frisk into an alley, quickly teleporting to their location, which was the practice room in the battle stadium. The rooms occupants jumped in surprise as he abruptly appeared in the center of the room. Undyne was quick to pick the human up and give them a bone-crushing hug.

"Where were you guys? Two more minutes and they would've shut the gates on you!" Frisk smiled guiltily.

Sans shrugged,"It's not like you guys can't beat all the others without us." He smiled as the others blushed at the compliment. They were interrupted by the magic announcement speakers. A bored male's voice blared out.

"And now to introduce the guilds who will be competing today!"

The group quickly made their way to the gate, waiting for their guild's name to be announced.

"First, we have the Punny Snowdrakes!"

Sans snickered and elbowed Frisk in the side, who also giggled. Papyrus let out an audible groan and facepalmed.

"Next, the Amalgamates!"

The group looked at each other in confusion, they had never heard of that particular guild. Amalgamates? None of them had ever met any monster who seemed to fit that category.

"Now, there's…" The announcer's voice faltered, grunting in confusion."The….pet pet pet?" Sans grinned. That was the group of local dog monsters who grouped together, bonding over their mutual affection for petting.

"Last but not least, we have the...Spaghetti lovers?" The title was Papyrus' idea, with Undyne supporting him and no one else caring enough to argue, it stuck. Thankfully, if they won, their title would change.

Papyrus charged forward with enthusiasm, carrying the human on his shoulders. Undyne and Alphys sprinted to keep up. Sans grinned, it was finally time, he pushed all thoughts bothering him to the side, readying his magic. It was time to dunk some losers.


	5. Tired

There were hundreds of monsters surrounding the sandy pit in the middle of the stadium. The four rival guilds stood, staring each other down. Sans eyed the Amalgamates. They seemed freaky, enough to chill him to the bone. Heh. Each member of the Amalgamates seemed to be oozing slime, or melting in some way. These creatures let out a combined roar that somehow gurgled out of their non existent mouths.

The rest of the guilds seemed easy enough. The little group of dog monsters could fight well, but wag a bone in front of them and they were out. The snow drakes on the other hand, had no attacking capabilities at all. It was a mystery as to why the Core had chosen them at all. Eyeing the opposing guilds, Sans concluded that the Amalgamates were the only ones who could stand against them.

All stood straight and waved at the crowds, waiting for the queen and king to arrive and announce the rounds. It took a while, and while the crowd quickly grew more and more noisy, Sans snuck a look at Frisk. They seemed to be enjoying the moment, beaming as Papyrus lifted them over his head to present them to the crowds. Even with this though, he felt uneasy. He tried to squint up at the human's face. He studied where the eyepatch covered Frisk's supposedly injured eye. He'd been suspicious for a while, after all, Frisk had said that the eyepatch was too cover up the damage done while it healed, yet each time Sans caught a peek of skin under that eyepatch, there was nothing but evidence of a completely unscathed eye. That eye was never opened, but he marked that up to it being a bit uncomfortable to open under a patch. Even as he saw it now, there was no sign of injury as a glimpse of the hidden eye was shown.

He was knocked out of his suspicions as the crowd once again screamed, crying praises out for their beloved king and queen.

The queen, Toriel, rose up the the magic amplifier as she projected her voice throughout the arena.

"My dear citizens, I am as excited as I'm sure you all are to announce the start of this years competition! This year, competing for the title provided by the Core, are the four amazing guilds in front of us. Be sure to cheer with all your might as only one will make it out victorious!"

The mass of monsters roared in excitement as flames began to swirl in the center of the sands. These flames warped and danced in beautiful shapes. The spectacle drew many oo's and aa's from the crowd. Then, the shapeshifting flame split into four separate pieces, each flying to hover over each guild. Sans grinned. This was going to be too easy. The snowdrakes looked at them, spewing horrible jokes that had little effect on anyone but Frisk and Sans, who were grasping at their sides.

The first battle would be allowed to take place as soon as the flames left, only remaining over the two who would be fighting. The Amalgamates withdrew with sloppy movements as their flame receded. The dogs were too busy chasing theirs anyway. Soon, only the Spaghetti lovers and Punny snowdrakes remained in the sands. Sans could feel as Undyne moved to the front, immediately showing her eagerness for violence. Papyrus hastily stumbled next to her, wanting to show his friends what his training had accomplished. Alphys, of course, settled with being at the back of the group as the two remaining members moved to stand next to their team. Sans eyed their opponents. He laughed silently to himself, this could hardly be called a fair fight. The snowdrakes were all too busy chatting with each other to prepare in any form of fighting stance.

Undyne was the one who kept in first. She pushed all the way through the opposing guild, spears surrounding her and pointing threateningly at the comical group. Frisk quickly speeded after. They lept over their heads and landed, trapping the now frightened guild between the grinning spaghetti lovers. Sans grinned, if this was the way that his family wanted to win, he would play along, after all, actually moving was too much of a chore anyway. Intimidation it was then.

Sans waved his hand dismissively, calling a few bones to surround the terrified group of snowdrakes. It really wasn't anything special, it was an attack he used often. So when Frisk suddenly flinched hard enough to drop their stance, Sans frowned. What was going on? He still kept the attack there as they were announced the winners, silently observing how Frisks eyes stared at his attacks in poorly hid terror. Even as they were escorted back into the waiting rooms, watching the next match, Sans kept watch on Frisk, never letting them wander off or evade his field of vision.

He frowned to himself, this problem was getting out of hand, or maybe he was just worrying himself out and making a mountain out of a molehill. Sans sighed, why him? Couldn't some other person worry and find this out for him?

"Wow! Would you look at that folks! The Amalgamates have won this round with swift brutality, I guess this means war next round!" The announcer's voice switched off.

Sans' eyes widened. Even if they could be easily bribed, the group of dogs were some of the best fighters the Underground had to offer. What could the Amalgamates possibly have done to win them over without bones? Sans' eyes shrunk, thinking back once more, swift brutality? From what he knew, there had only ever been minor injuries when competing.

Undyne seemed to be just as worried, but for a separate reason. She was staring in horror out of the doorway, almost breaking the frame as it screamed under her hands. Sans lazily padded over, only to hurry as the sudden sound of wheels began to echo through the room. He watched in horrified disbelief as two nurses sped past him, pushing a metal cart between them. The monsters spread across the surface of the cart looked just barely alive. They were covered in slime and...bite marks? Sans had never seen monsters so badly injured while competing before. Monsters were usually a very kind and gentle race, mostly due to the right to duel that everyone held. Dueling allowed for a somewhat peaceful way to vent out any negative feelings without going overboard.

Sans' eye sockets followed the nurses movements as they rushed the injured dogs to the back elevator. Who were these 'Amalgamates'? They were strong for sure, but he'd never seen any monster what was able to end a match so swiftly. He narrowed his eyes, this competition had just gotten much more dangerous. If the Amalgamates were really this strong, he didn't know how they were going to make it out of the final round unscathed. The final match granted certain...freedom to the participants. No one knows why, but when the Core wrote the rules for the tournament, it allowed there to be much more brutality involved in the last match. During this week long battle, the two guilds were to be released at random locations in a forest, and the rest of the rules were that of a challenge. Both parties would be given one week to make it out of the forest alive and be declared winner. Both could arrive alive, but one would have to surrender first. It may be harsh, but the Core had made the rules so they simply followed. Deaths were rare anyways, monsters being kind by nature.

Sans was a bit worried about this. They had never lost anyone in a challenge or match before, but he wasn't really excited to have his precious family anywhere near danger. Papyrus would never survive if caught out alone, and Frisk seemed to be getting weaker by the day.

Speaking of the small human child, Sans threw a quick look their way to prepare himself for the talk that was about to take place. He cleared his nonexistent throat.

"Hey kid, you mind fetching us some water, that absolutely harrowing battle, jeez, left my throat bone dry y'know?" He winked at Frisk, making a tiny shooing gesture and mouthing please at them.

After the human had left the room, he turned to Papyrus, who simply stood with a puzzled look on his face.

"Sans, what did you mean? That battle wasn't even a battle at all! The Great Papyrus did not even get a chance to show off his awesome new tricks!" Sans snorted, his brother was just the best. But as much as he loved to dote over his brother, Sans had worries to share. He narrowed his eyes.

"Has anyone else noticed anything wrong with the kid lately?" Sans looked carefully at each person, staring into their souls. Undyne only shook her head while the others made small concerning noises.

"I-is something w-wrong with them Sans?" Alphys timidly raised her hand, meeting Sans' piercing gaze. "All I noticed is that they're not as energetic at before, t-thought that could j-just be the way they are right now, their pet rock just passed you k-know."

Sans shook his head. "No, I can't believe you guys haven't noticed. It's-it's fine, nothing really, I'm just being paranoid." He laughed mentally, paranoid? He was always paranoid, especially with his precious family with him in harm's way now.

He glanced at the clock, it was late, and everyone would need plenty of rest to prepare for tomorrow's match, but he really had to know one more thing first. He turned to Alphys. "Alphys, have you seen to their eye yet?" Sans' grip on his sleeve tightened when Alphys shook her head.

"They won't even let me near it, says that t-they don't want to show me b-because it's really bad and stuff, they also said it would heal in a bit a-anyway. Why? Is t-there something wrong with it?" Alphys looked worried, turning to the direction that Frisk had left to.

Sans sighed. He wasn't really expecting the kid to mention anything to Alphys anyway. "It's really nothing, they're just acting a bit weird is all." He turned to the exit and waved," Welp, since all that is over, imma go home, tell the kid they're taking too long, kay? I'll go get my own water." Sans stepped out of the room, looking back to make sure Papyrus was following, saying his goodbyes and wishing a good night to everyone. Sans let out a tired sigh, after he figured out what was going on with Frisk, everything would be back to normal.


	6. Flying for about three seconds

None of this was supposed to happen. Frisk, Sans, and Papyrus had been so careful. How had things gone so wrong?

They had been caught. Someone had seen the three in their time together. They witnessed the friendship of two monsters and a myth. And what did they do? They panicked. The myth who saw this panicked and told the authorities, who of course, told Chara.

To say that Chara had been angry was a severe misconception. They were almost breathing fire as they walked into the Judgment hall, facing their childhood friend who was kneeling, surrounded by guards.

Frisk's hands were cased in a red magic, cutting off the power coming from their soul. There was no way to escape. Sans and Papyrus watched from a magic transmission tool that was used to broadcast the scene to all monsters and myths. This was to show others of course, what Chara would do to people guilty of treason.

Frisk held their head low, not meeting Chara's eyes as they stalked their way to the kneeling myth. Sans and Papyrus watched in growing horror as Chara's leg came back, only to come back full force, meeting Frisk's stomach with a sharp crack. Frisk was forced even lower as the pain from the blow caused blood to well up in their mouth.

Chara screamed in fury. "Deny it!" they screeched."Tell me it was just a rumor!" They were almost frothing at the mouth in rage, glaring down at the hunched myth. "You" they grit out,"Of all people to betray me, it just had to be you."

Frisk smiled bitterly. "What? You'd believe a commoner over me? Why Chara, I thought we were friends." Their sarcasm and mocking smile was only rewarded with pain. Chara kicked the side of their face, knocking Frisk over to the side. Even in a body of a child, it was apparent how much Chara's attacks hurt. Blood was beginning to drip from Frisk's mouth. Chara actually smiled as they swiped a spear from a nearby guard, thrusting the weapon deep into Frisk's thigh. Frisk let out a gurgling scream.

Sans tried to cover Papyrus' eyes, trying to stop him from seeing what that horrible thing was doing to their myth friend. But Papyrus simply held the hand back down, watching in horror as Chara continued to kick Frisk.

"You, I thought you'd be the one who'd stay with me forever. You promised me that you would stay by my side!" Chara quickly swiped at their face, masking tears as they continued to kick at the bloodied form on the ground. Frisk coughed, smiling grimly.

"And I will stick with that promise. I promised Chara that I would follow them until the end. I didn't promise whoever replaced them. You aren't the person I made that promise to. Chara would never do this."

Frisk tensed, waiting for more blows to come, yet only silenced followed. They looked up hesitantly. Chara was completely still, their head shadowing their blank face. Chara began to turn, walking away slowly. They walked, only stopping to say words that echoed in Frisk's ears.

"Take them to the White Room, I don't need them anymore."

Even the guards seemed shocked by those words. The White Room was a room that not even Chara used anymore. This was a room made for getting information out of enemies. This room was one where Chara themself would toy with an enemy, testing their power on them before leaving them in the room for an unspecified amount of time. All creatures feared this room. Of course, once released, the person was usually not even able to form coherent sentences.

What Chara didn't know, however, was that Frisk had one monster friend with a very nifty gift. And with Frisk in a room with no form of security, it would be very easy to escape after Chara left. Yet, that still allowed Chara to spend three whole days with Frisk. Even if Frisk would not be left there for their mind to break, so much time with the furious monarch would do nothing good for their physical health.

Papyrus let out a gasp as he watched the guards drag Frisk into a corridor, leaving only a pool of blood where Frisk laid. Sans tried to console his brother, turning away from the screen to wrap Papyrus into a hug.

"We'll save them bro, don't you worry."

Sans thought it all over. He had to plan everything right so that all three of them didn't die. To teleport in after the three days were up could mean saving Frisk from waiting any longer, but if Chara was still in the room, it would make things impossibly difficult to deal with.

He looked guiltily at the magic screen once again. Three days, it was only three days. It would be nothing to someone as powerful as Frisk. Yet he had his doubts that he proceeded to bury deep into his mind. Frisk would make it.

Only three days until Sans would rescue them.

Only three days that Frisk would be with a vengeful Chara.

Only three days that Papyrus and Sans would be waiting, looking at the clock, begging for time to pass quicker.

Only three days until Sans could be happy with his family again.


End file.
